1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to the structure of earrings. More particularly, the present invention relates to the shape and orientation of both an earring and the post that is used to anchor the earring to a person's ear.
2. Prior Art Description
Earrings have been in existence since before the beginning of recorded history. In this vast period of time, earrings have been created in countless varied forms.
In modern times, most earrings have the same general construction. The earring has an ornamental body that is intended to be viewed. The ornamental body is attached to a post that extends through a narrow piercing in a person's earlobe, thereby joining the ornamental body to the ear. The post of the earring is prevented from falling out of the piercing in the earlobe, either through the use of a complex post shape or the use of a removable stop that attaches to the post.
Earring posts with complex shapes are commonplace. Consider, as an example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0051132 to McCarty, entitled Self-Seating Earring Wire and U.S. Pat. No. D344,910, to Nelson, entitled Earring.
Short earring posts do not have the body length needed to prevent the post from falling out of a piercing. Accordingly, earrings having short posts typically use stops to lock the posts in place.
Many earring designs rely upon both the shape of the posts and the use of a stop to hold an earring in place. Such prior art earring designs are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. D374,637 to Esser, entitled Earring, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,518 to Mason, entitled Decorative Earring With Animal Shapes.
In most earring designs, both the earring post and the earring stop are intended to be hidden from view. Furthermore, the post and stop are typically made to be plain so as not to detract from the aesthetics of the earring's ornamental body.
In the present invention, the opposite effect is used. The earring has a post and stop that are visible. Furthermore, the ornamental body of the earring is configured to emphasize the visibility of both the post and stop. This novel earring configuration is described and claimed below.